Copernical Team
Just 1 in 5 employees in the space industry are women—this lack of diversity is holding us back, say researchers
This week, the Australian Space Summit is celebrating some of our nation's strengths and achievements in the space sector. But it's taking place under the shadow of significant cuts to space technology investment announced in last week's federal budget.
Space technologies play a critical role in responding to many national priorities, such as climate and disaster resilience, connecting regional Australians, contributing to regional security and driving economic growth. Yet, the sector suffers from a branding issue—most people think of rockets and astronauts, rather than the satellites we depend on globally.
This leads to a misunderstanding in government of the importance of space technologies to the issues we are seeking to solve. It also makes it harder to recruit talented people to the field.
So, how do we find enough people with the skills necessary to grow this critical technology sector?
Why diversity and inclusivity matter
The answer is placing a new priority on talent recruitment and expanding diversity and inclusivity in the space sector.
The space sector needs workers from all different backgrounds and disciplines, but is struggling to attract a diverse talent pool.
NASA's Lunar Flashlight to fly by Earth
NASA's Lunar Flashlight mission to the moon has ended, but the briefcase-size spacecraft will soon fly past Earth before heading into deep space. On Tuesday, May 16, at 9:44 p.m. PDT (Wednesday, May 17, at 12:44 a.m. EDT), the CubeSat will pass about 40,000 miles (65,000 kilometers) from our planet's surface.
NASA's Eyes on the Solar System 3D visualization tool will track the tiny spacecraft in real time, giving users a front-row seat to the flyby.
Space test shows magnolia may be best for wooden artificial satellite LignoSat
An international project led by Kyoto University tested and confirmed the high durability of space wood at the International Space Station—the ISS. The experiment results showed minimal deterioration and good stability of the samples selected for the wooden artificial satellite LignoSat.
The research group conducted a preliminary inspection involving strength tests and elemental and crystal structural analyses of the wood samples, retrieved from space by Astronaut Koichi Wakata and returned to Earth from the ISS on SpaceX CRS-26—a Commercial Resupply Service mission.
Despite the extreme environment of outer space involving significant temperature changes and exposure to intense cosmic rays and dangerous solar particles for ten months, tests confirmed no decomposition or deformations, such as cracking, warping, peeling, or surface damage.
Three wood specimens were tested and showed no deformation after space exposure. The experiment results also confirmed no mass change in each wood specimen before and after space exposure.
NASA's Juno mission closing in on Io
NASA's Juno spacecraft will fly past Jupiter's volcanic moon Io on Tuesday, May 16, and then the gas giant itself soon after. The flyby of the Jovian moon will be the closest to date, at an altitude of about 22,060 miles (35,500 kilometers). Now in the third year of its extended mission to investigate the interior of Jupiter, the solar-powered spacecraft will also explore the ring system where s NASA Gears Up to Train Artemis II crew for Moon mission
The four astronauts who will fly on NASA's Artemis II flight are getting ready to begin their training in June, as NASA prepares for the first crewed mission on the agency's path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will compl Axiom Space's second crewed mission gets green light
Axiom Space's second, entirely private space mission is on track for a Sunday launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, officials said Monday.
The launch is planned for 5:37 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A. Should bad weather set in, controllers could try again the next day.
If the weather does not cooperate EarthCARE, when a satellite sheds light on the clouds
EarthCARE is an important new satellite designed and built by Airbus to help scientists better understand climate change on clouds, aerosols and radiation. Under construction for the European Space Agency (ESA), Airbus successfully completed the Electro-Magnetic Compatibility tests in April 2023 and now this latest ESA "Earth Explorer" satellite is getting closer to launch next year.
The i New deal inked to space test meta-optical surfaces
A new engineering study has been commissioned by the European Space Agency (under PECS, the Program for European Cooperating States), to prove the reliability of meta-optical elements for space use in a collaboration between the ESA, Bulgarian start-up company LaboraXpert and TMOS, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems.
In the first st InVADER mission to test its robotic laser divebot on a deep-sea expedition
A team of scientists and engineers from the SETI Institute, Impossible Sensing, NASA JPL, and other institutions will test their innovative robotic laser system on a deep-sea expedition aboard the E/V Nautilus. The mission, called InVADER (In-situ Vent Analysis Divebot for Exobiology Research), aims to advance technologies to explore, characterize and sample the seabed here on Earth. In particul Research announcement for technology development leveraging ISS is open for concepts
The International Space Station National Laboratory is soliciting flight concepts for technology development that would utilize the space-based environment of the orbiting laboratory.
This solicitation, "Technology Advancement and Applied Research Leveraging the ISS National Lab," is open to a broad range of technology areas, including chemical and material synthesis in space, bonding, tra